hackhttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/8392/all
enFracking Industry Paying Off Scientists For "Unbiased" Safety Studieshttp://www.desmogblog.com/2012/08/16/fracking-industry-paying-scientists-unbiases-safety-studies
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/science-and-money.jpg?itok=vqklqMnk" width="200" height="113" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>As a whole, Americans have an unfortunate <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/study-finds-conservatives-trust-in-science-at-record-low-do-you-agree-with-its-reasoning/">tendency to distrust scientists</a>. The number of those who distrust science and scientists is skewed heavily by ideology, with self-identified “conservatives” <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/study-finds-conservatives-trust-in-science-at-record-low-do-you-agree-with-its-reasoning/">overwhelmingly saying that they don’t trust science</a>. <a href="http://desmogblog.com/chris_mooney">DeSmogBlog’s own Chris Mooney</a> has spent an enormous amount of time and energy devoted to finding out why science has become so controversial, and has compiled a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Republican-Brain-Science-Science/dp/1118094514">great new book</a> explaining why certain sectors of the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> population are more prone to denying many scientific findings.<br /><br />
And while most of the distrust that Americans have for scientists and science in general is completely without warrant, there are times when it is reasonable and often necessary to question the findings of scientists. Especially when the money trail funding certain science leads us right back to the oil and gas industry.<br /><br />
Five years ago, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/feb/02/frontpagenews.climatechange">the ExxonMobil-funded American Enterprise Institute began offering large cash incentives</a> to scientists willing to put their conscience aside to undermine studies that were coming out regarding climate change. The dirty energy industry knew that these studies would put their well-being at risk because they were responsible for so much of the global warming emissions, so they had to open their wallets to scientists who were more concerned with their finances than the well being of the planet.<br /><br />
A similar scenario played out in the months following <span class="caps">BP</span>’s Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. <a href="http://www.energyboom.com/policy/bp-pays-top-dollar-scientists-join-their-camp"><span class="caps">BP</span> arranged meetings with scientists and academics</a> all along the Gulf Coast, offering them <a href="http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/bp_buys_up_gulf_scientists_for.html">$250 an hour to report on the oil spill</a>, as long as the reports weren’t negative. This also would have allowed the oil giant an advantage in future litigation, by <a href="http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/bp_buys_up_gulf_scientists_for.html">creating a conflict of interest</a> for scientists that might otherwise testify against the company.<br /><br />
And then we have the media’s role in all of this, with 'experts for hire' like <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/patrick-michaels">Pat Michaels</a> allowed to pollute the public conversation with disinformation.</p>
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<p>For years, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmichaels/2011/12/16/energy-and-fracking-misinformation-from-our-friends-at-nasa/">Michaels has taken to the pages</a> of “reputable” papers like Forbes and The Wall Street Journal in an attempt to paint climate change as fraudulent and uncertain, without the public realizing that his primary source of funding was the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/patrick-michaels">dirty energy industry and their front groups</a>. One of his most recent crusades has been to <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmichaels/2011/12/16/energy-and-fracking-misinformation-from-our-friends-at-nasa/">convince the American public that fracking is perfectly safe</a>, and we should all be singing the industry’s praises for providing us with cheap natural gas.<br /><br />
But Michaels isn’t the only one trying to convince us that fracking is safe and harmless – The <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/gas-fracking-science-conflict/">industry itself has decided to jump on the science-buying bandwagon</a>. <a href="http://www.newsinferno.com/fracking/fracking-industry-paying-scientists-for-unbiased-research/39946">NewsInferno has the story</a>, based on an initial report by <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/gas-fracking-science-conflict/"><span class="caps">WIRED</span>.com</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
As the debate continues and local municipalities look to block fracking expansion in many areas, the energy industries have constantly countered, either mounting their own legal battles or now through influencing researchers to produce studies focusing on fracking’s benefits and safety.<br /><br /><span class="caps">WIRED</span> reports that last week, the provost at University of Texas said it would have to “re-examine” a recent university report from one of its professors that declared fracking was safe on groundwater supplies when it was revealed that professor had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from a single gas developer in the state.<br /><br />
Nationwide, Americans are being influenced by seemingly unbiased research but not being told who is influencing the authors of these studies. Case in point, the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Chamber of Commerce also recently published a report, according to <span class="caps">WIRED</span>, entitled “Shale Works for <span class="caps">US</span>” that was directed at Ohioans caught in the crosshairs of the fracking safety debate.<br /><br />
One of the authors of the study, Robert Chase, has been identified as one person who’s been greatly influenced by the energy industries and was even employed as a consultant for companies like Halliburton and Cabot, leaders in the fracking industry. His influence was likely part of a Penn State University study that also found fracking to be safe and ultimately led state lawmakers there to allow some of the most unchecked fracking drilling in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span><br />
</blockquote>
<p>Just as the Exxon story made international headlines, so too should this story. <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/10606-special-investigation-the-earthquakes-and-toxic-waste-of-ohios-fracking-boom">Credible, honest studies</a> have already been made public that show that there is nothing safe about the process of unconventional gas development. DeSmogBlog’s “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/">Fracking The Future</a>” report is a great source of information on the dangers that fracking and other risky industry practices pose to the health of human beings as well as the environment.<br /><br />
But this is hardly the first time that the industry has been on the wrong side of science. In May of this year, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-industry-trying-keep-doctors-silent-about-chemical-dangers">I reported on how the fracking industry</a> was trying to keep doctors in the dark about the chemicals being injected into the ground, and also attempting to get gag orders on doctors to prevent them from speaking with patients and the public about drilling-related illnesses.<br /><br />
The only thing currently holding back a wave of new fracking wells in America is public opinion and opposition from elected officials. But even with those hurdles in place, the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/who-monitoring-fracking-wells-and-pipelines-nobody">industry continues to operate with almost no oversight</a>, and <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-29/fracking-environment-gas/55845708/1">drilling activities are still expanding</a>. If scientists are willing to tell the American public and our elected leaders that fracking is safe, that could easily be enough to expand this dirty practice to areas that, at least for now, have been off limits to the industry.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/science">Science</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/640">exxon</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/730">forbes</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1002">bp</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1396">pat michaels</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3637">Halliburton</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4862">dirty energy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5227">politics</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5692">Industry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6079">Money</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7714">Scientist</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8392">hack</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9982">Buy</a></div></div></div>Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:31:09 +0000Farron Cousins6473 at http://www.desmogblog.comA Curious Tale of Monckton, Rinehart and Blaming God For Bushfire Deathshttp://www.desmogblog.com/curious-tale-monckton-rinehart-and-blaming-god-bushfire-deaths
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/getup_ad_mining_media.jpg?itok=K7F-5Wc4" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><span class="caps">IT</span> was an extraordinary response, but then it was an extraordinary video revealing some extraordinary alliances.</p>
<p>Two weeks ago I posted <a href="http://www.readfearn.com/2012/02/monckton-rinehart-and-a-plan-to-capture-the-australian-media/" target="_blank">a story on my blog </a>about a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=DGmZ4wjaVzE" target="_blank">YouTube video</a> featuring one of the world’s least media-shy deniers of human-caused climate change - British hereditary peer Lord Christopher Monckton, the third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley*.</p>
<p>In the video, the Viscount was in the boardroom of the <a href="http://www.mannkal.org/">Mannkal Economic Education Foundation,</a> a free-market think-tank founded by west Australian mining magnate Ron Manners.</p>
<p>The video had been watched only 130 times when I clapped eyes on it following a <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/leohickman/status/164297836983369728" target="_blank">Twitter</a> post from journalist Leo Hickman, of the <span class="caps">UK</span>’s The Guardian. In the video, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=DGmZ4wjaVzE" target="_blank">posted by Mannkal</a> (but since removed… and then reinstated… but possibly removed again by the time you read this), Lord Monckton suggests a good way to get free-market, climate science-denying views into the mainstream media, is simply to find some “super-rich” backers to buy the mainstream media.</p>
<p>As I watched the video last Tuesday evening, news was just emerging that mining billionaire and Asia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, had bought $192 million worth of shares in Fairfax (the publisher of Brisbane Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and many regional newspapers and city-based radio stations) to take her share in the company to about 14 per cent. To me, these two events were intrinsically linked, and not just because Mr Manners is a personal friend of Ms Rinehart’s.</p>
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<p>When Lord Monckton went on a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/1816194.html" target="_blank">speaking tour around Australia in 2010</a>, the organisers admitted that Gina Rinehart had offered to put up some of the cash. Ms. Rinehart also made one of her Hancock Prospecting staff available to organise one of the events in Perth. When Lord Monckton <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2765990.html" target="_blank">repeated his junket around Australia in 2011</a>, Ms Rinehart was again a supporter.</p>
<p>When <a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2011/07/lord-christopher-monckton-interview.html" target="_blank"><span class="caps">ABC</span> presenter Adam Spencer</a> asked who had invited him to Australia, Lord Monckton answered he had been invited to deliver a lecture at Fremantle’s Notre Dame University. The university’s Dean of Business School Chris Doepel had already told me that this lecture, dedicated to Ms Rinehart’s father Lang Hancock, had been organised after discussions with her iron ore and coal company, Hancock Prospecting. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSzViWqBmbo&amp;feature=related" target="_blank">Ms Rinehart attended the lecture</a>.</p>
<p>In another interview, this time with the <span class="caps">ABC</span>’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/the-lord-monckton-roadshow/2923400" target="_blank">Wendy Carlisle</a>, Lord Monckton claimed he didn’t know who had paid for him to come, although the boss of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies had <a href="http://www.readfearn.com/2011/06/monckton_nazi_hunter/" target="_blank">told me</a> they had helped pay some of his costs.</p>
<p>Lord Monckton’s 2011 tour was mired in controversy before it even started after it emerged that during a conference speech in America he had compared one of the Australian Government’s climate change policy advisors, Professor Ross Garnaut, to a fascist. He also displayed a huge Nazi swastika next to Professor Garnaut’s name. He “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-26/monckton-apologises-for-nazi-jibe/2771948" target="_blank">unreservedly” apologised</a> for his “catastrophically stupid” remarks, but a few months ago changed his mind and said they were “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/monckton-reaches-new-heights-anti-environmentalism" target="_blank">very mild</a>”.</p>
<p>In short though, the evidence would strongly suggest that Lord Monckton has close ties to Ms. Rinehart and that they have spent time discussing ideas.</p>
<p><!--more-->So anyway, knowing all this I wrote a blog two weeks ago, which was reposted over at <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/monckton-pitches-fox-news-australia-idea-mining-magnate-seeks-super-rich-backers" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a>, where I’m a regular contributor. This was then reposted on the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3807130.html" target="_blank"><span class="caps">ABC</span>’s The Drum</a>. People, like <a href="http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog-lord-monckton-and-future-australian-media-robert-manne-4575">Robert Manne</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/mining-and-media-dont-mix-20120211-1sy7x.html">Peter FitzSimons</a>, wrote things about the video and the broader issues. Other people wrote things too, like John Bruno at the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-f-bruno/the-smoking-gun-plot-by-f_b_1263148.html">Huffington Post</a> and Leo Hickman on <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/feb/08/fox-news-lord-monckton-australia">The Guardian</a>. Triple J’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/stories/s3425216.htm">The Hack</a> did a special radio report.</p>
<p>People tweeted, like The Chasers' <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/craigreucassel/status/166315302102118402">Craig Reucassel</a>. <a href="http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/no_wonder_the_warmists_hate_debate/" target="_blank">Monckton supporter</a> and News Ltd Columnist Andrew Bolt, (an “expert” along with Lord Monckton on the activist climate sceptic group the <a href="http://www.galileomovement.com.au/" target="_blank">Galileo Movement</a>) blew <a href="http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/this_week_the_whole_global_warming_debate_changed_or_not/" target="_blank">his dog whistle</a>, sending a handful of his regular lap dog commentators over to my blog to post insults, which I duly deleted. Campaign group <a href="https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/mining/monckton/monckton-speaks-to-mining-industry-share-this-video" target="_blank">Get Up!</a> was more than a little spooked at the video. They republished it, adding some subtitles, and posted it on their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=aX2kMAfJggU">YouTube</a> channel.</p>
<p>This has now been viewed more than 110,000 times. They started a fundraising campaign (currently more than $60,000 raised) and then devised and placed what you might describe as a rather confrontational <a href="https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/mining/monckton/get-this-ad-in-the-paper?t=dXNlcmlkPTY2MTIwOCxlbWFpbGlkPTU1OA%3D%3D" target="_blank">full-page ad</a> in the 14 per cent Rinehart-owned The Age newspaper. I even did a couple of radio interviews with <span class="caps">ABC</span> Newcastle and <span class="caps">ABC</span> Perth. Finally, the Viscount (not an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscount_(biscuit)" target="_blank">actual biscuit</a>), <a href="http://joannenova.com.au/2012/02/getup-poplexy-scared-of-monckton-mannkal-bolt-and-jonova-fox-australia-would-be-a-hit/#more-20154" target="_blank">responded</a> on the blog of Jo Nova, who described me as a “poor hapless soul” for having to sit through “hours of free market discussion”. Actually, it was about six minutes.</p>
<p>In his response, Lord Monckton claimed he had previously revealed a United Nations plot to install a world government (he didn’t) and that he had “parachuted” in to a <span class="caps">UN</span> climate conference (he didn’t do that either, according to a contact who was there and tells me he dropped in to a beach three kilometres away).</p>
<p>Monckton then bragged that he got an “enormous amount of support” for his talks in Australia last year. That is, an enormous amount of support away <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/07/04/german-clubs-ditch-monckton-tour-someone-tell-ticketek/" target="_blank">from the network of German clubs who decided they would no longer provide their venues for his talks</a> after his use of the grossly offensive swastika.</p>
<p>There were though a group of individuals, obviously, who were happy to give up or hire out their venues to Lord Monckton. One such group which provided a forum for Monckton, but unreported at the time, was the fringe political party Rise Up Australia, which is a de facto branch of the extreme Christian fundamentalist group <a href="http://catchthefire.com.au/2011/07/say-no-to-carbon-tax-lord-monckton-reveals-the-truth-on-global-warming-myth/" target="_blank">Catch the Fire Ministries</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://riseupaustraliaparty.com/" target="_blank">Rise Up Australia </a>chairman Pastor Dr Daniel Nalliah, also the president of Catch the Fire Ministries, once declared that the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria which claimed 173 lives, were God’s revenge for the state’s “incendiary abortion laws which decimate life in the womb”. Pastor Nalliah had apparently received this information in a dream on October 21 2008.</p>
<p>On the <a href="http://catchthefire.com.au/2009/02/media-release-abortion-laws-to-blame-for-bush-fires/">Catch the Fire Ministries</a> website, Dr Nalliah states: “In my dream I saw fire everywhere with flames burning very high and uncontrollably. With this I woke up from my dream with the interpretation as the following words came to me in a flash from the Spirit of God. That His conditional protection has been removed from the nation of Australia, in particular Victoria, for approving the slaughter of innocent children in the womb.”</p>
<p>The following year 2010, however, Dr Nalliah’s god apparently forgot about the abortion laws and instead spared Victoria the ravages and heartache of further bushfires – but <a href="http://catchthefire.com.au/2010/03/global-cooling-shows-divine-protection-restored-%E2%80%93-what-would-derryn-hinch-think/">only because lots of people prayed</a>.</p>
<p>How about the Queensland floods of 2011? Were these the result of a strong <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/01/18/climate-change-where-it-fits-into-the-queensland-disaster/">La Nina weather pattern and exceptionally warm ocean temperatures</a>? No.</p>
<p>According to Pastor “Danny” Nalliah, the Queensland floods were a divine intervention after former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (a Queenslander) had apparently said something “<a href="http://catchthefire.com.au/2011/01/are-the-qld-floods-the-result-of-kevin-rudd-speaking-against-israel/">against Israel</a>”. Before having <a href="http://catchthefire.com.au/2011/07/say-no-to-carbon-tax-lord-monckton-reveals-the-truth-on-global-warming-myth/dsc_0004/">his picture taken with Pastor Nalliah</a> for the Catch the Fire website, Lord Monckton reportedly told the audience he was a born again Christian.</p>
<blockquote>
Yes, I am a Christian and was born again when I was very young. So don’t waste your time, you must get born again soon. I am sure Pr Danny can help you. We must speak the truth and not be worried about fighting the lie with the truth, as the truth will always prevail. Do you know the meaning of the scripture, ‘The gates of hell shall not prevail’. The gates don’t come to fight you, this means you must go to the gates to fight and get back what you have lost.”</blockquote>
<p>Once Lord Monckton returns from the gates of hell to retrieve his <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/nobleman-is-no-nobel-man-20100125-muky.html">Nobel laureate</a>, perhaps Ms Rinehart, Ron Manners and the rest of Monckton’s supporters could then go off in search of some credibility, which is irredeemably tarnished by their association with him.</p>
<p>To borrow a phrase from the recently poetic Ms Rinehart, “<a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/business/ginas-poetic-swipe-at-critics/story-e6frg2qc-1226268575661">Through such unfortunate ignorance, too much abuse is hurled</a>”.</p>
<p>*small print: not an <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2011/july/letter-to-viscount-monckton/">actual member of the House of Lords</a>. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-profile-related field-type-node-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Related Profile(s) :&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/christopher-monckton">Christopher Monckton</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/591">christopher monckton</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2236">deniers</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2540">desmogblog</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6735">gina rinehart</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6811">sceptics</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7281">robert manne</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7470">andrew bolt</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7526">Craig Reucassel</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8296">fairfax</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8297">ron manners</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8298">mannkal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8389">Get Up!</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8390">readfearn</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8391">leo hickman</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8392">hack</a></div></div></div>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:10:42 +0000Graham Readfearn6060 at http://www.desmogblog.com